Year 7 Unplugged Computing — Lesson Overview

A block of hands-on, screen-free lessons exploring the big ideas behind computer science. No laptops required — just your brain, a pen, and a willingness to get involved.

Lesson 1: The World's Worst Robot

What happens when you give a computer instructions that aren't quite right? In this lesson, you are the computer — and computers do exactly what they're told. Nothing more, nothing less.

Discover why precise, unambiguous instructions are the foundation of all programming
Work in pairs to program a human robot to draw and navigate
Find out what an algorithm actually is — and why it matters

Lesson 2: Flowchart Detectives

Programmers don't just write code — they plan it. Flowcharts are one of the most powerful tools in a developer's toolkit, and in this lesson you'll learn to read, trace, and create your own.

Learn the standard symbols used in flowcharts worldwide
Follow real flowcharts step-by-step to solve problems
Design a flowchart of your own and put a partner's to the test

Lesson 3: Binary Bracelets

Every photo, message, and video on the internet is made of nothing but 0s and 1s. In this lesson, you'll find out how — and take home a piece of jewellery to prove it.

Explore how computers represent all data using just two values
Learn to convert between binary and decimal
Encode your own initials in binary and string them into a bracelet

Lesson 4: The Algorithm Dance

If you've ever written a set of instructions, you've already written an algorithm. In this lesson, the whole class becomes a program — and the floor is your dance stage.

Act out IF/ELSE decisions as a class physical activity
Discover how REPEAT loops make programs shorter and more powerful
Decode a dance routine written in pseudocode, then write one of your own

Lesson 5: Human Grid Maze

Your robot is lost in a maze — and it can't see the whole map. Can you write a set of decision rules smart enough to navigate it out? This lesson is about thinking like a programmer when the future is unknown.

Explore how conditional logic can guide a program through uncertainty
Trace a decision-based navigation algorithm through a grid maze
Write your own flowchart solution and challenge a partner to execute it

Lesson 6: The Abstraction Cooking Show

Professional programmers almost never write the same code twice. In this lesson, you'll discover the trick they use to keep their programs clean, short, and easy to update — and you'll make a paper plane in the process.

Explore what abstraction means and why it's one of the most important ideas in computing
Build a paper plane by following a set of instructions, then redesign those instructions to be smarter
Discover how procedures and functions work — and why every programmer uses them

Lesson 7: Escape Room — Adrift in Space

The CSS Discovery has lost all power in deep space. Life support is running out. Your crew is locked in. Everything you've learned this block is the only thing standing between you and a very bad outcome.

A fully immersive team escape room challenge drawing on all previous lessons
Race against the clock to work through a series of system-restore puzzles
Can your crew restore the ship before time runs out?